LYAPUNOV FUNCTION FOR THE KURAMOTO MODEL OF NONLINEARLY COUPLED OSCILLATORS

A Lyapunov function for the phase-locked state of the Kuramoto model of nonlinearly coupled oscillators is presented. It is also valid for finite-range interactions and allows the introduction of thermodynamic formalism such as ground states and universality classes. For the Kuramoto model, a minimum of the Lyapunov function corresponds to a ground state of a system with frustration: the interaction between the oscillators, XY spins, is ferromagnetic, whereas the random frequencies induce random fields which try to break the ferromagnetic order, i.e., global phase locking. The ensuing arguments imply asymptotic stability of the phase-locked state (up to degeneracy) and hold for any probability distribution of the frequencies. Special attention is given to discrete distribution functions. We argue that in this case a perfect locking on each of the sublattices which correspond to the frequencies results, but that a partial locking of some but not all sublattices is not to be expected. The order parameter of the phase-locked state is shown to have a strictly positive lower bound (r greater-than-or-equal-to 1/2), so that a continuous transition to a nonlocked state with vanishing order parameter is to be excluded.